new "canvas"

[Gary Majchrzak]

IME a switch from IO or RC to CS can cause problems with certain corals in certain situations. I'm not the only experienced reefkeeper to witness this firsthand (see thread in link posted on previous page). At first I was a disbeliever but not anymore.
Right now I'm in the process of flushing the CS out of my system. Recovery is slow but steady. I still don't think anybody knows exactly why this happens (believe me, I've read up a lot on this), but I would not recommend anyone try it for themselves. Stony corals seem particularly vulnerable during the switch, but you'll see in my pix that Sarcophyton and Protopalythoa were affected as well. (These aren't what I'd call "difficult" corals to maintain.) Interestingly enough, an aquacultured Acropora that originally came from a captive CS holding system remained unaffected by the switch to CS in my aquarium.

moving forward and leaving the CS episode behind my aquarium is now running on a controller

 

[dan10342]

OMG what happened!?! after looking at the pics, im in total shock....

 

[SVXH6]

Gary, how is your S. Gigantea after all of this?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

gigantea is looking great- especially after todays (second) 55 gallon water change to flush out CS.
Another thing about CS that I noticed (as did many others in that thread I linked to): it kills algae. Hair algae, smear algae (cyano) etc.
This might make it a particularly useful salt for FO systems.

 

[dreaminmel]

:sad1: Oh Gary... that stings. You have a stronger stomach than I to be able to post those pics. I do appreciate that you shared this experience with us as it may save someone else the pain in the future.

Once you are confident things are back to normal feel free to pm me and I will frag anything that's fraggable for you ok? Hopefully anything you've completely lost is growing in someone's else's tank and can possibly be obtained again.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

thanks, Mel

thanks, Mel

I appreciate your offer. I didn't post those pix on a whim- I made the decision to include them here after much deliberation. Although I took those nasty pix today you can see that coralline has grown over the parts of coral that have been dead for a few weeks now. (The thread on CS I linked to was sorely lacking pix of what problems people were experiencing with the saltmix.)

Everything is going to be fine- just wait and see

 

[Capt_Cully]

Wow, I'm very sorry to see the devastation. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Are you going to make another "new canvas"?

 

[melev]

So sorry to see such huge losses, Gary. :sad1:

 

[jnarowe]

wow...and my assumption has always been (based on published tests, my own tests, and scads of posts) that IO is not a good choice for SPS reefs. Do you feel the switch process was the culprit, or the makeup of CS itself?

 

[tmz]

Sorry to see your troubles. It's good of you to share it in everybody's best interest.
I recently used some reef crystals after using only coral life for years. I had some losses and had to frag out some of my favorites. Nothing like your problem though but I only used a little at a time. My situation was complicated by the fact that the seal on my ro membrane was pinched and post di I was getting 60ppm water without realizing it for about 10 days. I've done a series of smaller water changes and began running gfo and extra carbon. I'm back to coral life and sticking with it and will religiously do 3 gallon water changes every day.I'm also runnig gfo and extra carbon.

Regarding gfo. Do you use it continuously? When my phosphate is down below .025 should I stop? Can the media be stored and reused say after 3 weeks use? I'm only using half the amount recomended. That is I'm running about 400grms for a 500 gal system.

Since virtually all of the mixes have traces of metals etc far in excess of nsw,they all scare me. Perhaps this is one area where it's best to leave well enough alone since whatever is living in our tank probably has adjusted to the levels of bad stuff in one mix and not the other or the two mixes can combine in a deadly fashion.

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any help.

 

[AC11337]

Ugh thats horrible, i wonder if anyone has tried to sue them yet, this isn't the first time I've heard of that stuff killing corals. If for some reason all my other plans fail to fix my algae problem i might give that stuff a try. (after removing all my corals)

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

thanks for all the well wishes.
jnarowe- I've always had great success growing SPS with IO. It's consistent from batch to batch, dissolves quickly and is easily tweaked. I can get it for a good price, too. I've switched between IO, RC and Oceanic over the years. I've tried Kent , Tropic Marin, Coralife and Red Sea but I've never seen anything like this in my aquarium before now and I don't want to speculate on the cause.
Tom- I wish I had a Hanna colorimeter or the Merck kit to test low range phosphates but I don't. I run GFO when nuisance algae starts to increase.

 

[jnarowe]

I would test it for you, but there is probably someone a lot closer and willing to help out. I have tested Kent, Tropic Marin, IO, Coralife, and OceanPure, and so far, only used OceanPure.

 

[magdelan]

Wow, I didn't realize that any of this had occured. I feel as though I am looking at pictures of the Titanic on the bottom of the sea floor. A once beautiful tank is now covered in coraline. Amazing. Lesson learned. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

 

[oceanparadise1]

wow ive never seen anything like that..sry for ur lose!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've been focusing on my fishes while flushing out CS. Emperor is still growing.

I've also managed to finally get a frag of "Todd's Torch" thanks to you-know-who
Slowly but surely I'm shaking off the nemesis of some animals that I've never had any luck keeping... much less keeping together in the same aquarium.

 

[Kent E]

Gary, could you explain in more detail, your last post, I don't understand what you mean.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13060831#post13060831 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kent E
Gary, could you explain in more detail, your last post, I don't understand what you mean.

Powder Blue and Achilles. Gigantea carpet anemone. "Thick Finger" types of shallow water Acropora (gemmifera/ humilis types). All considered difficult to keep. I've never had long term success with any of them in the past. Never tried keeping them together in the same aquarium, either. Animals from very different reef environments.

 

[OrionN]

I am glad that your tangs, angel and especially your S. gigantea is doing well

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

thanks, Minh